I’ve been slacking on the updating here. But, we’ve been getting things done at the house. So, it’s fair.
The flooring guy came back to fix the shoe. Mostly it looks good. Some of it I’m going to have to just fix myself. And, we’re not sure what he did (because he certainly did NOT remove the baseboard & shoe), but the pocket door is sliding better now. It’s barely rubbing at all. So, we’re unsure if this is due to an outside force for now (like weather/humidity/etc.) or if he actually did something that made it better. But, we’ll take it!
Next up and for the next while … priming & painting, and priming & painting, and priming & painting.
Last weekend, I primed the trim, walls, and ceilings in the family room, foyer, and living room. It all needed 2 coats, and you could kind of still see the paint sample sections. I was actually kind of worried about it. The primer just covered so thinly that I was wondering if 2 prime coats and a single top coat was going to be enough.
Turns out, it mostly is.
… Let me back-up …
I got most of the priming done on Thursday and Friday.
I planned to paint on Saturday and Sunday.
By Saturday, I needed a break. Honestly, my shoulders and arms need a break. So, we decided to run some errands and get some other stuff done on Saturday. We’d go to the house and work again all day on Sunday.
First up – get the paint. We wanted to make sure to get the paint on Saturday because SW doesn’t open until 10am on Sunday (I like to get started early), and also to make sure we could get enough. This was a good idea. Apparently, the color I chose for the walls and ceilings needs a high-reflective base; this is not something that gets used a lot, so most of the stores only had 1-3 gallons on-hand. We found a store in Cincinnati that had 6 gallons, plus the original store we were at had 1 … so we bought them all. (It also takes about a week to get the paint in, so if we ended up being short, this could put us way behind schedule – better to just get them all now.)
The design plan: Farrow & Ball, All White in Sherwin Williams Cashmere, Low Lustre finish
That’s the same paint color I used for the trim.
It’s the same color that I’m using for the walls … and ceiling … both in the same finish.
(Side note … the rest of Saturday was productive, but nothing that needs to really be relayed on the blog … some furniture shopping and errand running.)
So, I got started early on Sunday. I primed a single, last window frame that I didn’t get to during the previous work sessions. And, then I started in on painting all the trim in the LR, Foyer, & FR – 5 windows, 3 doors, 2 door-side windows, and the trim on 1 side of the stairs. That took a little while.
By noonish, Patrick had arrived and was making progress patching walls in the kitchen. Have I mentioned how wrecked our walls were after taking down the wallpaper? Some of it I’m going to wallpaper simply because it’s easier, it’ll look fine, and we’re sick of patching.
Then it was time for painting.
Would it cover? How’s this going to look? Did we make the right choice?
Our answer … It covered great! It looks amazing!
Funny side story …
When Patrick & I first went to get paint samples, I had about 5 sample chip cards in my hand – all whites. When I would ask Patrick which one he liked, he said he didn’t even see a difference, they’re all the same. His real response … “Do we really need to spend $50 on paint samples that are literally all white? Are there really that many differences between the whites? Come on.” I didn’t budge – because I knew that there really are that many different types of white! And, I painted them on several walls in direct/in-direct light areas, and looked at them for a few days. Patrick was trusting, and definitely fell into belief when he saw them on the walls. I ended up with an overall 7 white samples. They were all very different. The original leaders were Sherwin Williams Flour or Snowbound. But Flour was a little dingy for the design scheme and Snowbound was a little grey – but I loved both colors and would recommend either one of them! My final sample was Farrow & Ball, All White and it was exactly what I was looking for – light, bright, crisp, and no blue/grey/tan undertones. It is perfect.
(Also, interestingly enough, SW Pure White and F&B Strong White were the dullest, grey, dirty whites of the bunch – which I thought was weird with their given names – but they matched right up to the paint chip sample cards from the stores. It’s so interesting to me how something can look so bright on the chip and so different/dull in person on a wall or in different lighting. Advise to everyone – Paint samples are worth the money EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. And paint a large area! And several areas! And look at it throughout the day in different lights! Take some time to decide! It’s totally worth it.)
Our bedroom is going to be black (again, like it is now at our first house) … I picked up some sample chips when we were are the store getting the paint … and Patrick said to me … “Seriously, do any of these black really look that different, just pick one.”
HAHAHAHA 😃 And … so it continues.
I know that this design scheme might not be everyone’s cup of tea … but we’re really excited about it. We’re planning to bring in pops of color and focus with the art and furniture … so it’s going to take some time before everything looks cohesive … but for now, the paint looks great. I can’t wait to get the paper covering off of the floors so we can see it finished.
It’s still very much so a work in progress – the corners aren’t painted, cutting into the baseboards and trim areas, I’m not bothering to paint behind where the wallpaper goes – so it still looks only partly finished. But, the wallpaper is all ordered (yay!) and we have enough paint to keep moving and once Patrick finishes sanding the kitchen walls, I do believe it will come together quickly. So happy! 😊
(Also, painting trim was something we didn’t have time to do before painting the walls and moving in at our last house … so it was something that was ALWAYS on the project list but NEVER actually getting done. I cannot express how flippin’ happy I am to have painted trim at the new house already!!!! We’re going to spray the doors once we move in … so there will be some touch-up and more painting to do, but having the framing and window trim painted is a HUGE step further than we ever got at the first house!)
I’m hoping that by the end of this upcoming weekend … I can have the first floor painted (save the wallpaper areas).
I’ll let you know how it goes.
(We don’t get the inspection negotiations back on our first house until Friday, so this weekend might end up being all about the old house and not much on the new house …)
PAINT SAMPLES: (same room, different walls)
PRIMED WALLS & CEILINGS:
PAINTED TRIM:
PAINTED CEILING:
And, on a good ending … Our daffodils did not die in the freeze!
Welcome to our home ... our second attempt at a fixer-upper. 